I've moved the blog again.

I know, I know... I'm hoping this is the last time, too.

#1 - I've been a terrible blogger for a couple years now - let's see if this time sticks.

#2 - I've moved this whole thing over to the wonderful world of Wordpress, as our family embarks on a serious adventure. Check it out at http://www.adambam.com/blog

Cheers.

Lake Tahoe 2009

We went to Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful, to say the least.

Shea found the water a bit chilly, so she rode on my shoulders...

Another Love... [Part I]

I love being a dad. The end.
-----------------------------

There's been far too little blogging going on around here for a long time (for many, many reasons). Nonetheless, I've been itching to tell the world about our newest baby girl, but I've also wanted to put some thought and effort into it rather than simply post a picture with some stats. Months ago I resolved that I would not blog again unless it was about Maya.

So, without further ado, let me introduce my beautiful Maya Annaliese...

*thanks again, Beth, for an amazing birth announcement!*

| PROLOGUE |

So, if you're interested in my wife's lovely version of the labor and birth process, check out Part 1 & Part 2. My version may be slightly less graphic :-) but that’s because she’s a better writer than I. (Forgive me in advance, as I am rarely very good at telling a concise story)

Allow me to lead into the actual birth story with something seemingly unrelated. I would say that the past 5 years have been an important and unexpected journey for both Tara and myself. It's been interesting as we wrapped-up our undergrad, got married, transitioned to the “real world,” charted our collective path forward as “one,” learned more about the world outside of the American bubble, went back to school, traveled abroad, intensified our wrestling with faith & spirituality, got pregnant, had baby Shea immediately following grad school, experienced raising a daughter, and then pregnant again! ::surrrrrprise:: … needless to say, we could have never foretold all the twists and turns life would take (nor would we want to).

I recount all of that to outline the arch of life events that have permanently (and unpredictably) shaped both of us together and individually. The way we perceive the world around us is now… changed. Realities that were commonplace are now intriguing. Situations within our everyday experience now beg questions and curiosity rather than melding into the unnoticeable background. It’s sometimes an uncomfortable place to be, but more often it’s exciting and vibrant which I think comes with unpredictability and newness. If I could wrap it into one phrase, I guess I feel like we’ve gradually shifted to wearing different “lenses”… now confronted with views that point toward journeys rather than destinations. (This paragraph has been vague, I know. Even Tara’s probably reading and at this point thinking, “Heh?”)

What I’m getting at is that these nebulous concepts ultimately end up presenting us with very practical lifestyle questions: Why do we truly want to buy [insert consumer good of choice]? Why do we eat those ingredients we can’t pronounce? How much trash do we create and energy do we use? Why do we buy products from that company? Why do we hold that political/racial/spiritual/cultural viewpoint? … and so on… A lot of these questions usually stem from books we’re reading, experiences in school, conversations we have with friends, and often movies that we see. Such was the case after we watched the documentary, The Business of Being Born.

With the birth of our first daughter, Shea, we were generally going with the flow of standard birthing protocol simply because it was our first pregnancy, and we were generally preoccupied with getting used to the fact that WE WERE GOING TO BE PARENTS!  Yet during our second go'round with Maya, following various conversations and after viewing that documentary, we again found ourselves asking culturally uncomfortable questions, this time about why the American medical community approaches childbirth the way it does (Tara also wrote about her thoughts on the film here).  After much deliberation, we decided to transfer our care from an OB to a wonderful Certified Nurse Midwife, and honestly, I think that was one of the best decisions that we've made as family.  The resulting birth experience, for me, was phenomenal, and I'll use my next post to describe why that was...

Progress.

I'd like to offer a wide range of thoughts, but for tonight I'll just leave it at this:

...my patriotism for this country is ultimately trumped by my citizenship in a larger story. But, nonetheless, the outcome of this election has left me proud, hopeful, and energized about what may be ahead of our national community as well as our global community. Tonight will be remembered for many, many years.

Now let's all get to work.

*more Callie Shell photos here

+

Forbidden City, Beijing, China
January 2007

(For those who've forgotten (or didn't see)... read my explanation of these "+" posts here.)

Political Perspective from Greg Boyd...

I don't know about you, but this election is wearing on me. Don't get me wrong, I'm engaged in the latest happenings, watching as many of the speeches and highlights as my schedule allows. I feel the gravity surrounding this particular election in relation to our country's current state of affairs and history, and I'm definitely going to vote. But as the campaigning roars on, I'm increasingly realizing the inherent brokenness of our political system. It's irreconcilably polarized. Substantive dialogue is consistently drowned out by the "us vs. them" blabber. I realize that this is the "beauty" of democracy and that alternative systems of governance produce a far grimmer outcome... but that doesn't erase my disappointment with my fellow countrymen's failure to acknowledge and respect "the other."

Author Greg Boyd recently wrote a post at his site regarding politics that resonated with me. If you claim to pursue the way of Jesus (and even if you don't), I'd recommend reading Boyd's thoughts. It articulates a refreshing [and greatly needed] element of perspective:

"True Believers" and the Religion of Politics [excerpt]

I call them “true believers” (a phrase coined by Eric Hoffer). You see it in their teary eyes, their wide smiles, their intense frowns, their enthusiastic poster-waving. They’ve heard every canned phrase a thousand times before, yet applaud as though it was a new revelation each time it’s repeated. “America is the last, best hope of the world!” “Country first!” “We’re going to change the way things are done in Washington!” “We’re going to keep America safe.” “Our opponents say… but we know…” “We have the answers and our opponents just don’t get it.” “God bless America!”

The true believers passionately embrace all this. The hope of the nation and even the world hangs in the balance — if only they can win. It’s almost as if these sincere folks have forgotten that these exact same sentiments, hopes and dreams — almost always in the name of “God and country” — have been around since the dawn of human history. It’s almost as if these committed devotees have forgotten that these same sentiments, hopes and dreams have fueled most of the bloodshed throughout history.

more...

Hiking Chevelon Canyon with my bro...

Well, seeing that I've had such a prolonged absence from the blogging realm, I figured I might as well record a bit of what I've been up to. I haven't forgotten about "the list," and I still plan to finish it out. But in the meantime, I'll toss out a few posts to catch-up anybody who's still reading this weak-sauce blog.

A couple years ago, my brother, Dave, talked me into going into the northern Arizona wilderness to hike our little boots off. Over the course of two and half days, we did around 23 miles and probably a couple thousand feet of elevation change, most of it without trails (thank you GPS:). Oh yeah, and we almost died... (joke... kinda). But I was definitely starving and walking funny by the time we made it back to the truck.

This year we decided we'd head back to the same location, but we only had wife/child-clearance for one night (which was just right). So it was back to Chevelon Canyon on the Mogollon Rim, northeast of Payson. The below video is nothing special, but it shows the beautiful Arizona forests that exist less than a couple hours north of the barren desert of Phoenix.

Bamford Bros Hike Chevelon Canyon from Arizona Bam on Vimeo.

I Am Alive.

Sorry.  I haven't blogged for a long time.  I'll try to get back on track, etc.

I love my daughter (and my wife, duh)... they're a lot of fun.

Four Years Ago.

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith ‘A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!’
- Robert Browning

Green Building | Sustainable Architecture [Part 1]

How about a I kick this off with a little background on how I even came to be interested in these concepts...

When I was about half way through high school, I was thinking that I might want to go to college to study architecture. There's a lot about it that still really appeals to me today... but long story, short I didn't study architecture. I studied music and then global business... go figure. No regrets, though.

So, fast-forward (or rewind, depending on where you are in this boring story so far) to the end of 2005, and I'm sitting (as a real estate developer) at this fancy-schmancy economic forecast luncheon in Phoenix where there were three main speakers for the morning. The first two were your typical, run-of-the-mill high-octane economists from some big investment banks, which is the type of person that you expect to hear pontificate at these events. But the third guy was different... his name is Wellington Reiter. I felt sort of bad for him because when it came to his turn, droves of round men in business suits were already filing out of the ballroom, indirectly writing-off anything he was about to say as irrelevant to their future. But as soon as he launched into his presentation, I was locked-in (for the first time all morning). Reiter's talk simply offered a vision for what the future of urban planning & design COULD look like (specifically in Phoenix) both in commercial and residential applications. Concept sketches of high-density yet comfortable housing... urban landscapes that leverage design and solar power to energize the city and create natural oasis-like parks... mass transit networks that would actually integrate the sprawling suburbs. An entirely different [read: sustainable] direction, and I loved it. But nobody else seemed to get into it. The whole experience really got me thinking... but unfortunately it didn't get me thinking in a self-reflective way. That came later.

Now fast-forward to the end of 2006, and HEY, Tara's pregnant! Whoa, awesome! Whoa, scary. Just the reality of the pregnancy significantly changed the way I perceived the whole world. My priorities were instantly rearranged (and have been ever since;-) In that time, Tara started reading up on a lot of different aspects to being pregnant, many of which dealt with how healthy living makes for a healthy baby. And she would draw me into the things she was learning about... like harmful chemicals in foods & plastics, the ecological benefits of cloth diapering, indoor air-quality, etc. And it seemed like over the months spanning the birth of our daughter, we both started to get a glimpse of how truly interconnected the world is. We were beginning to see that a healthy life for us and for our children requires mindful actions and a healthy earth. You may also recall that we read Sleeth's Serve God Save the Planet, which despite its rather stark title had a strong impact on our worldview (see more of my thoughts here and here). And this was also about the time that, despite the political polarization of the global warming issue, the general consensus coming from experts around the globe was that the physical planet is, in fact, not in good shape, and that a lot of the research data points to humanity playing a significant role in the problems.

So, here we are halfway through 2008... I'm still involved with the family biz, these sustainable design concepts excite me more than ever, yet my path towards implementing them in the future is a bit uncertain. Towards the end of last year, I led a look at a potential business venture, which involved building a spec home in one of our developments. I set a target to build a LEED certified finished product in a native desert setting, and the process of walking through the details of the LEED requirements, researching different design aspects, and learning more about photovolatic solar energy was a blast! Unfortunately, we've tabled this venture at the moment while the market drains into a black hole;-)

So that's how I became interested in this stuff. And, this post has (as usual) gotten kind of long, so I'll hold it there for tonight...

UP NEXT TIME:

• I'll run down some of the key tenets and techniques of sustainable building that I've learned
• I will take a closer look at how far pre-fab homes have come in recent years
• I'll offer some resources (web, book, and local) for your own exploration if you're interested.

*Photo credit: LivingHomes

Still Alive...

Beh. I know... long time, no post. There's just been "a few things" going on lately (primarily business shtuff). Should be getting a little more space shortly.

Thanks to everybody who voted or left a comment with a vote! That was a fun & intriguing experiment... I would not have guessed that the green building/sustainable architecture topic would have taken the cake, but I'm excited to kick things off with that one.  [Disclaimer: I'm sure I'll have something similar to this on the actual post, but don't get your hopes up too high!... I'm definitely no expert on the topic. Just someone who likes to think about it and learn something here and there.]

----------

Earlier tonight, I conducted an audio interview with Florida artist/sculptor, Eric Higgs [cool dude].  More on all of that later, but I'll wrap this up with a thought that he brought up during our conversation.  We were talking about his creative process, and we were discussing some of the underlying energy inherent to minimalism.  He said something to this effect [I'm paraphrasing]: 

"I take my creation concept, and I just start eliminating things.  I take things away until I remove something that actually [adversely] affects the piece by its absence.  And through this process, you can hopefully progress something down to its purest, most potent form."

I like that.  It can apply to so much.

Help Me...

To: Any reader of this blog who is actually STILL reading after my very spotty posting over the past couple months...
From: The Sporadic Blogger Bam

I'm struggling a bit with the blog here. I'm not short on ideas for posts, but rather I have a hard time guiding myself on which idea I should focus on next. So, I figured I'd try out the "poll" element on the sidebar here and get a little reader-interaction going on.

The following are all post ideas that I will eventually cover [at some point]. I'd love it if you would go through them, decide on your top three selections (assuming you ACTUALLY CARE... heh), and then place your vote to the right. My plan is to then follow the winning topics in order of most popular to least.

Wow, this could really backfire on me if NOBODY votes... or if my wife is the only one that votes (Tara please vote)... so, back me up here, folks. (This is also a great [anonymous] participation opportunity for any of you "lurkers" out there... don't worry, I judge you not... I like to do my fair share of blog-lurking too... it should really have a better-sounding term because I don't think there's anything wrong with it... anyway)

In no particular order...

A - Backyard Vegetable Garden Update
Picking up where this post left off, we've actually got some wicked photosynthesis crankin' the backyard these days...

B - Iraq War Film Reviews/Reflections
I've been doing a lot of documentary-watching exclusively regarding the war over the past couple months, and I would love to try and distill some of my take-aways...

C - Creative Non-Violence Series
I know, I've been threatening with this series for a while. Wherever this ends up in the poll, I can't guarantee that I'll pound out the full series in consecutive posts...

D - Questions & Ideas About the Problem of Population
This is one that I've really been meaning to just get out there, but for whatever reason I just haven't pushed it across the line. The gist of the post will be to offer some perspective as to how our planet's population is sky-rocketing, what that means for Americans, and more specifically what that might mean for our own families [and family sizes]...

E - Wheaton College Professor Fired for Divorce
Thanks to Moses for giving me the heads-up on this one. I'm not really sure where I'm gonna go with this, but it definitely raises some timeless questions...

F - My Explorations in Green Building & Sustainable Architecture
I'm increasingly convinced that the way we build houses around here is broken. But there are a lot of fresh ideas out there... manufactured housing has come a LONG way, my friends... seriously!

G - Thoughts on Patriotism
How patriotic am I? How patriotic should we be? I wonder...

H - An Inside Look at Studio L
A few months ago, I finally pieced together a home recording studio... and then a week later, we found out that we were pregnant again (SURPRISE!!). Thus the studio will need to find a new home in the house shortly (oh the irony). But while I figure that out, I'd love to give you a look at the gear that makes this little studio hum, offer my two cents on how far technology (and affordability) has come in audio recording, and maybe it will be helpful for somebody out there who is thinking about getting a recording set-up. PLUS, I'll give you a quick taste of some of Studio L's first creative output!

I - Neighborhood "Walkability"
This is one that I just came up with after reading Brenda's post. It's funny to think back to some of the different places I've lived in recent years and how drastically different the walkability has been...


Now go hit the polls!!

+

Too many days between blog posts here... a sign of the times.

Some of my favorite blog posts by Joshua Longbrake [seemingly put on ice at the moment...] are his creative additions (generally photography), which are always simply marked by a "+" as the title. So, I'm going to copy this minimalist concept of his (hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery right?) and begin offering up some of my meager creative content to the blogosphere from time to time.

And today isn't even MY creation. Ha! [hey it's my blog... I make the rules around here: there are no rules]

=====

My wife shows signs of being a fantastic photographer. My daughter shows signs of being increasingly stunning with each passing day. Pretty good combo, I would say...

DEAL...

... OR NO DEAL??

If you happened to be watching Deal or No Deal on NBC earlier tonight...

... and as the camera panned across the audience near the runway...

... you found yourself wondering, "Hey, was that Ad-- nah..."

... Yes. It was me, and my college buddies. :-)

More on my 4-seconds-combined small-screen debut later... (I haven't even seen it yet!... gonna have to get a TV again eventually)

Bye!

P.S. Howie Mandel: very well-dressed & much shorter than I realized.

What Could Be Better?

Well, my friends, what could be better than hanging out with my little lady in the backyard this last weekend?... [answer to follow pictures]


What could be better than that? Well, hanging out with BOTH OF MY KIDS in the backyard! Yeah, that's right, we've got "anothah one in tha cookah" (as the say in Boston... I'm guessing). I'm pretty sure most of you who read this blog probably know this already, but it's worthy of a post nonetheless!

(And, no, this is NOT some last-ditch effort at a weak April Fool's joke;-)

All smiles at the Bams...

The Backyard [A Pictoral Journey]...

Hey folks! Yeah, yeah... weeks have passed since the last post, I know. A lot's been goin' on (took that weekend trip to LA, been working on Shea's "sleeping" habits, work's been hittin'-the-fan, etc.) More on all of that later...

But for now, I'd like to take you on (what I consider) an amusing tour of our backyard through the years...

Seeing that Tara and I bought the house in which I happened to grow up from my parents after we moved to AZ following college, our backyard is the setting for a lot of my childhood memories: over the years my brother and I played hours of catch, smear-the-[guy-with-the-ball:], & homerun derby; my dad put in a tetherball pole on the sideyard for my 10th birthday; and on an early-release school day back in 1991, I got my first kiss back there... coincidentally from a girl named Tara, HA! (Just for the [wife] record, SHE kissed me! I was defenseless, disoriented, befuddled, bewildered!;-) Anyway...

Given the modest size of the house, the backyard is on the larger side of things. And as time wore on since we first moved-in in 1986, the yard had lost much of its pizazz by the time Tara and I took over.

A shot from the patio looking out shortly after we moved-in (2004).

So, after we took the first year to get settled inside the house as newly-weds (read: paint EVERY interior wall surface, replace light-fixtures, fans, hardware, etc.), I set my sights on the backyard. I was born into a family that always seems to minimize the amount of work involved in the projects that lay before us... the logic goes something like this, "eh, that shouldn't be too bad... I'll just do it myself." :) Thus begins the backyard saga...

As I set out to start the work, I happened to also be starting grad school at the time. I like to spend a decent amount of time creating and designing, so this project was hardly a chore... but, to put it plainly, it. took. for. ever. for me to finish. I used my time in the yard as a release of sorts from the mind-numbing study sessions and stressful days at work... so I'd get an hour here, an evening there... and fortunately I have a very patient wife (when she wants to be;-)

I basically wanted to start from scratch with a clean canvas back there, so I went crazy on whatever was left of that wiry old lawn and KILLED IT ALL, BWAH HAHAHAHA!!-- sorry, got carried away there...

The yard with grass annihilated and the patio extension excavated and formed.

After working out the details of the new design, I decided that a larger patio would make a big difference, so I hired a concrete guy to do the new patio that Tara helped design. While that work was being done, I embarked on another self-imposed side-project of larger than anticipated proportions: a house for Charlie... our bizarre pet.

This dog is 100% weird.

I had this grand idea that I would convert the side yard into a dreamy dog-run for Chuck. A fenced space just for him with his own stretch of grass and a custom-built doghouse. So I installed a wrought-iron fence & gate, and I launched into my doghouse design that I (of course) spent way too much time on...

Ya' darn right I framed-out the doghouse and installed carpet!

So, after killing the old lawn, removing the old tetherball pole that my dad set in FOUR FEET OF CEMENT, digging-up & relocating countless sprinkler heads/zones (kill me), having the new patio built, having the curbing run, relocating the existing walkway pavers, planting four trees, building the doghouse, installing the fence & gate, planting shrubs and flowers galore, spreading 15 tons of decorative rock, spreading new topsoil, and laying 1,800 sq ft of Mid-Iron sod... voila... no big deal, right?... pshhhh.

Everybody loves Before-&-After pictures....

Before


After


Before


After

So, Charlie got his luxurious dogrun, and what does he do??? REJECT IT!

I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen him actually lay down in that blasted doghouse. When we first shut him in the dogrun, he learned that he could use his mad-hops to jump the six-foot gate to the front yard and go cruisin' the neighborhood. Puh... ungrateful mutt.

Which brings me to today. I find myself over there in the dogrun this afternoon with a shovel. And I'm digging up the pristine lawn that I've maintained for Charlie that he never uses (my first tinge of rejection as a father ::sniffle::). Why would I do that, you ask? Because rather than simply growing flowers, grass, and shrubs, we're gonna try our hand at raising food, my friends!

In recent months, we've been helping build a community garden with a bunch of friends, and a number of our friends also have some sweet gardening going on at their homes. And as Tara and I have learned more about the environmental, community, & health benefits to eating locally grown, organic foods, we've got the bug, too.
So, instead of watering & mowing Charlie's stupid patch of grass which he snuffs at with disdain (which makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE), I dug it up today. I'll be relocating his house to the main yard (maybe he'll like it out there, HA!), and building a raised-bed vegetable garden in the side yard.

Thus begins the garden saga... we're a little late to the dance in terms of the planting season this spring, but Tara's got some seedlings growing in a tray right now, so we're goin' for it! Updates and pictures to come as things progress...

Wheaton College Hastert Center?

I'm not a frequent letter-to-the-editor author (in fact, I think this is the first one I've ever written). Yet in the recently published alumni quarterly from my alma mater, something caught my eye. And it stuck with me for a few weeks. Eventually, during one the many extended drives to my job site, a response began to formulate in my mind. For whatever reason, as I was laying in bed the morning after my bout with Shea's bug, I felt compelled to write it out and send it in. I imagine the chances of it being published are fairly slim, and being published really wasn't my motivation for writing it in the first place. I think I did it more for myself... for my own clarity as I wrestle with my initial emotions & evolving perspectives and to sort out why I felt the way I did. So I'll share it here as fodder for thought...

Hastert Center Prudent Decision?

As a recent alumnus I count my time at Wheaton an incredibly valuable season in my life. Yet, upon the arrival of the winter 2008 issue, I was struck by the disappointing contrast displayed on page 5. The College’s recent unveiling of the J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy subtly promotes to the public a controversial political tone, which does not represent the richness of Wheaton’s heritage or the range of worldviews that currently comprise the college community.

Far from being an attack on Hastert as an individual or on partisan politics in general, my disappointment rises from the ideals that are indirectly advocated by this center’s title: political stature and empire power. Much of my pride in Wheaton as an institution lies in numerous individuals whose progressive actions have humbly shaped the college and the world over the past century and a half: Blanchard & Burr for their abolitionist activism, Elliot & Saint for their radical love, Graham for his tireless voice of a new creation, etc. I fear that the creation of this new center under Hastert’s name undermines the focus of our counter-cultural history in favor of celebrity and endowment.

The issues surrounding government and economics have an ever-important place in a Wheaton education. Yet, in a world where empires are marked by compromise, I hope that wrestling with the interaction between politics and Christ’s teachings is elevated above the status of public office.

Christo et Regno Ejus.

I did my best to be concise and to the point (which is definitely not a strength of mine:-), and hopefully my point comes across.

The concept of a private, Christian educational institution is a difficult one. There is a constant rub between the pursuit of excellence and the humble ways of Christ (my sophomore dorm-floor buddy, Ariah, has written about his struggle with this dichotomy). I went through varying degrees of spiritual crises myself during my time there (some that I am still working through and expect to for the rest of my life). Yet, what I enjoyed about the College was how the community generally welcomed the questioning... that we were frequently directed to prod and inspect our surroundings... to grapple with the things being presented to us, etc. And it's in that spirit that I wrote this editorial piece.

Wheaton's alumni community is peppered with radical lives and powerful minds that embodied sincere efforts to engage the world... the people I speak of were not predisposed to building the empire of a nation, but instead were/are overwhelmed with a compulsion to subvert the status quo and build the Kingdom of God in a multitude of ways. Accordingly, I worry when it appears that the College leadership has embraced political positioning for the added benefit of a bolstered financial endowment.

The irony in all of this to me is that the school's President Litfin (a man whom I respect) writes his closing column in the same issue about the task of a Christian scholar:

"The Christian's intellectual task is, they believe, incomplete until we look along our subject matter, asking in what ways what we're seeing relates to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This is essentially what it means to think Christianly about a subject, and it extends into every course, across every discipline, throughout the entire curriculum."

I guess I'm just not convinced that this level of analysis is displayed in the establishment of this new center.

Anywho, as if this post wasn't long enough already, I want to also point those who are interested to a recent article written by Andrew Sullivan at Time.com, My Problem with Christianism (HT: Zach Lind). I won't go into too much detail, but suffice it to say that it articulates many of my current sentiments very well. I'll close with this excerpt...

"I dissent from the political pollution of sincere, personal faith. I dissent most strongly from the attempt to argue that one party represents God and that the other doesn't. I dissent from having my faith co-opted and wielded by people whose politics I do not share and whose intolerance I abhor. The word Christian belongs to no political party. It's time the quiet majority of believers took it back."

I'm Back!

Welp... sorry for the hiatus here folks. After a session of fun-with-the-stomach-flu with Shea a couple weekends ago and general life craziness lately, blogging's been put on the back-burner. But here's a quick update to prove that I'm still alive:

- I've still got that silly "population" post coming... I'll get right to it! (later) :-)

- I'm excited to tell y'all more about Studio L when the time is right... so sooner than later.

- I'm looking forward to having a Man's Weekend (Meekend?) in LA pretty soon with my old college buddies (pictures [maybe video?] to come post-Meekend...)

- I mentioned that I plan to do a series on non-violence, and that's still in the works. But as an intro to these matters, I'm participating in a conversation with Jake (my wife's childhood-friend's husband near Rochester, New York... whew, what a title!) on his recently established blog, Faith in Freedom. He began his thoughts with this post, and expanded with his take on war, to which I have just responded. Hop over there and check it out if you're interested, and add to the discussion (constructively) if you'd like.

**photo credit - War by Gadjo Dilo

Of Mice and Apples...

Alrighty folks... sorry the blogging has been a bit lacking lately, but I can explain! Actually, I don't have any great reasons, but I do have a few new things in the works that I'm excited to share.

Sidenote: My buddy Chris (hey man, thanks for reading... if you're still reading... if not, then I just wasted 97 characters of Blogger server space for nothing...;-) recently told me that I need to mix in more light-hearted thoughts on here to keep my readers interested and not depressed. So, I'm gonna try! [But don't forget that over 18,000 children die everyday from preventable hunger and malnutrition. ::heavy pause:: I'm trying not to forget.] OK!

So, I haven't forgotten about my blogging prospectus that I posted back in December... life just keeps moving on and I've only knocked off a couple of the posts that I intended. But I'm still planning to get through those... so bear with me. (I'll try to tackle those population ideas in my next post).

But tonight, I'd like to tell you my quirky little story about Mice and Apple(s)...

To provide a little context, after six years of planning, scheming, and outright waiting, I am about to have a fully functional digital recording studio in our home [which has arbitrarily been dubbed Studio L... {cue the funky horn section with a breakbeat:}]. But I'll save those details for another time. The point is that I've been piece-mealing together various components for this studio, some of which include computer hardware.

If you haven't figured it out by now, Tara and I are fully Macintosh-kool-aid-drinking-people. In fact, I think I was probably a Mac fanboy before I even owned a single Apple product (as I cut my teeth on Macs in the studios back at Wheaton). Aaaaanyway, I decided to order the new Mac keyboard (wired) and the Kensington PocketMouse to enable me to convert my MacBook Pro into a desktop setup at home. So, the FedEx truck rolls up this afternoon, professionally prank-knocks my front door, and when I open it up and look down, my boyish grin turns upside down.

"Hmm. That's an awfully small box. Either Apple's reeeeally good and figured out a way to dehydrate the keyboard so that I just have to add water to get it back to fullsize, or there's no keyboard in there."

There was no keyboard in there. I got the Kensington... and I got a Wireless Mighty Mouse. Not A mouse... MICE... meeses, if you will. I don't want TWO (even though that Mighty Mouse looks kinda cool)... I wanna mouse and a keyboard. So I call Apple to see if I can just take it by the Apple Store nearby to swap it out. No, it was ordered online so it has to be resolved with the online store. ::humph::

And here's where it gets good, ladies and gents:

The fella says, "Sir, I'm committed resolving this issue for you." cool, me too

"Because this was our fault, what I'm going to do is get the keyboard in the mail to you..." grand

"... we'll send it expedited for no charge..." fine

"... you can have the ($70!!!!) wireless mighty mouse for free..." SERIOUSLY???

"... and we're going to credit your debit card $25 to compensate you for the hassle." WHA????

Wow. So there you have it folks. That's how to keep your loyal customers happy and coming back for more. So, I'd suggest that you order something from Apple.com... say, a printer cable... and maybe, JUST MAYBE, they'll accidentally include the wrong item!

One can hope... ;-)

Proud daddy...

Tara just made a short video for her mom on her birthday...

Happy Birthday, Grandma! from Arizona Bam on Vimeo.

Needless to say, I'm a proud papa. :-]